I ran the Thames from source to sea – here’s what I discovered
In 2021, as the UK began to emerge from the third COVID lockdown, I embarked on a slow, long-distance run from the source of the River Thames to the sea. The run was a live artwork I called Thames Run: Source to Sea, as part of the Estuary 21 Festival Associated Programme. Following the course […]
Breaking free from fossil fuels is urgent but hard – Colombia shows why
Javier Crespo / shutterstock Colombia’s outgoing president Gustavo Petro, a former guerrilla and the country’s first leftist leader, came to power in 2022. He promised something few leaders of fossil fuel-producing countries have seriously attempted: to reduce his country’s dependence on oil, gas and coal. Together with his vice-president Francia Márquez, a former environmental activist, […]
US and Iran’s exchange of strikes shows how far diplomacy has changed
A US Army Apache helicopter was downed near the Strait of Hormuz on June 8, with the two crew members rescued by an American sea drone. Rawpixel.com / Shutterstock The US military launched strikes against Iran on June 9 in response to the downing of a US Army helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz a […]
Footballer Christian Eriksen’s ICD kept his heart beating after he collapsed on the pitch – here’s how these devices work
Eriksen was fitted with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator after suffering a cardiac arrest in 2021. Vitalii Vitleo/ Shutterstock When Danish footballer Christian Eriksen collapsed during a friendly match recently, many people would have been surprised to see the footballer walk off the pitch after regaining consciousness. The event brought back memories of Eriksen’s cardiac arrest […]
‘Lime bike leg’: what doctors are seeing in ebike crashes
Peter Porrini/Shutterstock.com A man in his 30s arrived at the Royal London Major Trauma Centre after what sounded like a relatively minor cycling accident. He had been riding a shared ebike when he lost control and fell. By the time I met him, scans had revealed a complex fracture around his ankle where his shinbone […]
Hip dips: what are they and can you really get rid of them?
Jeorge/Shutterstock.com Hip dips are having a moment. The perfectly normal indentations that sit below your hips on the outer thigh have become the latest body feature to be scrutinised, fixed and agonised over on social media. But what are they? Can you actually get rid of them? And should you even try? Formally known as […]
Nasa names Artemis III crew, but a rocket explosion has thrown US Moon plans into turmoil
The Artemis III mission will involve launching the Orion spacecraft into low Earth orbit. Nasa/Esa/ATG Medialab Nasa has named the crew of its next Artemis mission, which it promised would be an “extraordinary demonstration of what is possible”. Artemis is the ambitious American-led effort to the return humans to the lunar surface by 2028. However, […]
Left-of-centre parties like Labour face challenges from both right and left – here’s what they can do about it
Dave Colman/Shutterstock These are tough times for social democratic parties. Defined by their support for a strong welfare state within a capitalist economy, these parties have seen their traditional voter bases erode in recent years. And in government, they appear to many to have abandoned any last signs of a radical reformist outlook. It has […]
Mamma Mia! is Shakespeare’s Tempest in campy musical disguise
Mamma Mia!, the 1999 jukebox musical built around the songs of the pop group ABBA, became a huge hit in the theatre internationally and later a commercially successful feature film. It has inspired a host of spinoffs including a prequel film, an immersive dining experience and fan fiction. What if I told you that it […]
Can AI really spot the next football superstar – or is it changing the game in troubling ways?
Luca Toni of Bayern Munich in action. Tsutomu Takasu/Wikimedia, CC BY Football fans everywhere are gearing up to celebrate the sport’s most skilled athletes as they prepare for the start of another Fifa World Cup. But few get to see how the next generation of Messis and Ronaldos are discovered. For decades, the beautiful game […]